214

SURGEONS-SUPERINTENDENT.

unmarried females conducted themselves in a most disorderly manner; and it turned out, on inquiry, that they had been taken from the Newington workhouse, and that some of them had undoubtedly been prostitutes from an early age.

In their report, the committee very justly attribute much of the immorality which prevailed on board some of the ships to have arisen from the appointment of men to the important office of Surgeon-Superintendent, who, from their youth and inexperience, were often totally unfit for the control of a large number of persons. It was in the hope of inducing gentlemen of the medical profession, of superior qualifications, to engage in the emigration service, that the committee of 1840 recommended the payment of a gratuity to the Surgeon-Superintendent, amounting to 10s. 6d. for each approved immigrant landed in the colony. It was soon discovered, however, that this provision had been perverted from its proper design, and had gone to swell the profits of the emigration agents, who were known to have required, in very many instances, a guarantee from the surgeons, that they would pay a sum out of their expected receipts for their own passage. In some cases, the surgeon was even required to pay for his passage before embarkation. Not unfrequently, in consequence of these arrangements, the surgeons became participators in, or, at least, silent spectators of the frauds of the agents; as they were bound by the articles of their agreement, some

SHOCKING CASE OF IMMORALITY.

215

of which the Local Board succeeded in procuring, "to assist in passing the emigrants so as to procure payment of the bounty." An instance occurred in the case of the 'Queen Victoria.' The account is taken from the Report of the Immigration Board:

"The next case, that of J. C. and C. W. is one in which, we regret to say, fraud is combined with neglect. These parties appear to have been received on board as man and wife, and according to the surgeon's statement, they slept together for some weeks, when they quarrelled, and declared that they were not married. They were then separated, and C. W. took her place among the single women. Certificates were then fabricated on board, under the direction of an individual, who acted as attorney for the agents in London, and such signatures as are usually attached to these documents were inserted. These certificates were deposited in the office without comment, and J. C. and C.W. were passed by the Board as single people of good character, without a remark from any of those persons present who were aware of the circumstances of the case, except that when C. W. was found to be without the requisite protection, the surgeon came forward and said, that she had been under his special care."

In the case of one vessel, a person had been appointed to the office of Surgeon-Superintendent, who was grossly incompetent, both from professional incapacity, and irresolution of character, to

216

ILL-TREATMENT OF EMIGRANTS.

discharge the duties of his responsible situation. A surgeon was also sent out with another ship, whose conduct appears to have been the subject of severe animadversion. In a Report from the Immigration Board, we find the following sentence: "We must express our surprise, that a person so ill-educated, and of so ill-regulated a mind, as his letters to us show him to be, could have been appointed to so responsible a situation, or that he could ever have been in possession of such testimonials as would admit of his application for such employment being entertained."*

Complaints were also made by immigrants that they had been ill-treated in various ways by the surgeons and officers; one case, in particular, was the subject of a trial before the Supreme Court. A single female, who, though of a peevish disposition, appears to have been of good moral character, had, on two occasions, been brought on deck and hand-cuffed, when buckets of water were thrown upon her by the surgeon and the captain; she had afterwards been kept on the poop in her wet clothes until after eleven o'clock at night. The only provocation alleged for this inhuman treatment was some paltry dispute about cleaning a mess-kid. The surgeon and captain were imprisoned six months, and fined £50 each;

* On account of the bad conduct of the surgeon and captain of the vessel referred to, and the insufficiency and bad quality of the provisions, not only the gratuities of the officers, but also the bounties, were refused.

in addition to which their gratuities were withheld by the government.

In consequence of such circumstances as have now been mentioned, it became necessary to devise some plan for the better regulation of immigration, in the event of its being revived. It was accordingly recommended that the ships employed in the service should in future be provided, fitted out, and victualled by contract; one half of the contract money to be advanced in England, and the other half paid in the colony, on the surgeon's reporting favourably as to the performance of the contract. It was further recommended that the business of selecting emigrants should be entrusted to officers under the superintendence of the colonial land and emigration commissioners, and paid by the colonial government by head money on every approved immigrant landed in the colony. And with regard to the Surgeon-Superintendent, it was proposed by the immigration agent, and recommended by a committee of council, that he should be nominated by the colonial land and emigration commissioners, who should require certificates, not merely as to the professional qualifications of the candidate, but also as "to his character for humanity, decision, uprightness, and self-respect." That, after nomination, he should be required to present himself to the medical officers of the Board of Admiralty, and that his final appointment should depend on the report of those officers.

218

TRANSPORTATION.

The subject of immigration will be resumed, when the proceedings of the new Legislative Council are brought under review. In the meantime, the reader's attention must be invited to other subjects of importance connected with the history of the period under consideration.

SECTION IV.

DISCONTINUANCE OF TRANSPORTATION.

A History of Transportation, including details of all the methods which have been adopted in the American and Australian colonies to render it cfficacious as a secondary punishment, would form an interesting and valuable work. Even an attempt to give such details would be incompatible with the limits of these volumes; nevertheless, the subject of transportation is one which at present occupies so considerable a share of public attention, that a mere account of the circumstances immediately connected with its discontinuance would hardly be regarded as satisfactory. It will be proper, therefore, to give in this place a succinct account of the great penal experiment which has been instituted in New South Wales, and Van Diemen's Land, in order to render intelligible the inquiry which will subsequently arise, viz:

whether the circumstances which led to the discontinuance of transportation to the elder colony